Landscape Sustainability in a Sonoran Desert City

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to discuss concepts of landscape sustainability in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Phoenix is situated in the greater Salt River Valley of the lower Sonoran Desert in the southwest United States. In this paper I use the ecological frameworks of ecosystem services and resiliency as a metric for understanding landscape sustainability. An assessment of landscape sustainability performance benchmarks were made by surveying research findings of scientists affiliated with the Central Arizona Phoenix Long Term Ecological Research Project (CAP LTER). In Phoenix, present day emphases on cultural, aesthetic, and habitat formation ecosystem services within an arid ecoregion of low natural resilience coupled to a complex matrix of socioeconomic stratification, excessive landscape water use and pruning practices has had the undesired effect of degrading landscape sustainability. This has been measured as mixed patterns of plant diversity and human-altered patterns of carbon regulation, microclimate control, and trophic dynamics. In the future, sustainable residential landscaping in desert cities such as Phoenix may be fostered through use of water-conserving irrigation technologies, oasis-style landscape design motifs, recycling of landscape green waste, and conservative plant pruning strategies.

Introduction to Ecological Landscaping: A Holistic Description and Framework to Guide the Study and Management of Urban Landscape Parcels

“…In his paper, Martin (2008) also utilizes scientific information to develop a set of landscape design and management guidelines. His focus is on the urbanized arid region around Phoenix, Arizona and, thus, the dynamics of water usage within landscape parcels.…”

“…In terms of the ecological landscaping framework (Fig. 2), Martin (2008) highlights the need for large irrigation water inputs to sustain the desired physical-ecological characteristics of lawns and other "oasis" vegetation within this desert biome. Although such water use may seem wasteful, he points out that greener landscape parcels provide cooler microclimates by mitigating the effects of solar radiation inputs.…”

“…While Martin's (2008) focus is mainly vegetation, Marzluff and Rodewald (2008) draw attention to how human manipulation of plant communities and landscape patterns impact animal, especially bird, populations. Drawing from general ecological theories and numerous studies, they discuss scientificallyinformed guidelines for designing and managing urbanized regions and individual parcels in ways that support a higher diversity of animal species (e.g., by providing favorable nesting and food resources).…”

“…In this way, Hitchmough's essay suggests an important sociocultural metric for assessing the overall sustainability of landscaping products: those that are appreciated by the public are sustainable; those which are disliked are not. However, a challenge for widespread adoption of ecological landscaping may be reconciling the, perhaps conflicting, sociocultural and physical-ecological aspects of what determines acceptable sustainable urban landscaping (as when intensive lawn management is socioculturally desired but generates negative outputs; Martin 2008, Baker et al 2008.…”

“…In this issue, Martin (2008) and Marzluff and Rodewald (2008) suggest possible guidelines for ecological desert landscaping and successful conservation of urban vertebrate wildlife, respectively. Although they drew from extensive scientific research, their guidelines might be limited by the specific organismal, geographic, and sociocultural contexts in which the reviewed research was conducted; thus, it is uncertain how applicable these guidelines are to other organisms and geographical areas.…”